Apparatus and method for buffering context arrays referenced for performing entropy decoding upon multi-tile encoded picture and related entropy decoder

ABSTRACT

A buffering apparatus for buffering context arrays of a multi-tile encoded picture having a plurality of tiles includes a first buffer and a second buffer. The first buffer is arranged to buffer a first context array referenced for performing entropy decoding upon a first tile of the multi-tile encoded picture. The second buffer is arranged to buffer a second context array referenced for performing entropy decoding upon a second tile of the multi-tile encoded picture. When the first tile is currently decoded according to the first context array buffered in the first buffer, the second context array is buffered in the second buffer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/343,388 (filed onMar. 7, 2014), which is National Stage Entry of PCT application No.PCT/CN2012/081288 (filed on Sep. 12, 2012). In addition, the PCTapplication No. PCT/CN2012/081288 claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication No. 61/553,350 (filed on Oct. 31, 2011) and U.S. provisionalapplication No. 61/566,984 (filed on Dec. 5, 2011). The entire contentsof all related applications are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to decoding amulti-tile video/image bitstream which transmits a plurality ofmulti-tile encoded pictures/compressed frames each having a plurality oftiles, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for bufferingcontext arrays referenced for performing entropy decoding upon amulti-tile encoded picture and a related entropy decoder.

As proposed in High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) specification, onepicture can be partitioned into multiple tiles. FIG. 1 is a diagramillustrating tiles adopted in the HEVC specification. FIG. 2 is adiagram illustrating a conventional decoding order of the tiles shown inFIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, one picture 10 is partitioned into aplurality of tiles T₁₁′-T₁₃′, T₂₁′-T₂₃′, T₃₁′-T₃₃′ separated by rowboundaries (i.e., horizontal boundaries) HB₁′, HB₂′ and columnboundaries (i.e., vertical boundaries) VB₁′, VB₂′.

Inside each tile, largest coding units (LCUs)/treeblocks (TBs) areraster scanned, as shown in FIG. 2. For example, LCUs/TBs orderlyindexed by the Arabic numbers in the same tile T₁₁ are decodedsequentially. Inside each multi-tile picture, tiles are raster scanned,as shown in FIG. 2. For example, the tiles T₁₁′-T₁₃′, T₂₁′-T₂₃ 40 andT₃₁′-T₃₃′ are decoded sequentially. Specifically, one picture can beuniformly partitioned by tiles or partitioned into specifiedLCU-column-row tiles. A tile is a partition which has vertical andhorizontal boundaries, and it is always rectangular with an integernumber of LCUs/TBs included therein. Hence, tile boundaries must beLCU/TB boundaries.

There are two types of tiles, independent tiles and dependent tiles. Asto the independent tiles, they are treated as sub-pictures/sub-streams.Hence, encoding/decoding LCUs/TBs of an independent tile (e.g., motionvector prediction, intra prediction, entropy coding, etc.) does not needdata from other tiles. Besides, assume that data of the LCUs/TBs isencoded/decoded using arithmetic coding such as a context-based adaptivebinary arithmetic coding (CABAC) algorithm. Regarding each independenttile, the CABAC statistics are initialized/re-initialized at the startof the tile, and the LCUs outside the tile boundaries of the tile areregarded as unavailable. For example, the CABAC statistics at the firstLCU/TB indexed by “1” in the tile T₁₁′ would be initialized whendecoding of the tile T₁₁′ is started, the CABAC statistics at the firstLCU/TB indexed by “13” in the tile T₁₂′ would be re-initialized whendecoding of the tile T₁₂′ is started, the CABAC statistics at the firstLCU/TB indexed by “31” in the tile T₁₃′ would be re-initialized whendecoding of the tile T₁₃′ is started, and the CABAC statistics at thefirst LCU/TB indexed by “40” in the tile T₂₁′ would be re-initializedwhen decoding of the tile T₂₁′ is started.

However, encoding/decoding LCUs/TBs of a dependent tile (e.g., motionvector prediction, intra prediction, entropy coding, etc.) has toconsider data provided by other tiles. Hence, vertical and horizontalbuffers are required for successfully decoding a multi-tile encodedpicture/compressed frame having dependent tiles included therein.Specifically, the vertical buffer is used for buffering decodedinformation of LCUs/TBs of an adjacent tile beside a vertical boundary(e.g., a left vertical boundary) of a currently decoded tile, and thehorizontal buffer is used for buffering decoded information of LCUs/TBsof another adjacent tile beside a horizontal boundary (e.g., a tophorizontal boundary) of the currently decoded tile. As a result, thebuffer size for decoding the multi-tile encoded picture/compressed framewould be large, leading to higher production cost. Besides, assume thatdata of the LCUs/TBs is encoded/decoded using arithmetic coding such asa CABAC algorithm. Regarding a dependent tile, the CABAC statistics maybe initialized at the start of the tile or inherited from another tile.For example, the CABAC statistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “1” inthe tile T₁₁′ would be initialized when decoding of the tile T₁₁′ isstarted, the CABAC statistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “13” in thetile T₁₂′ would be inherited from the CABAC statistics at the lastLCU/TB indexed by “12” in the tile T₁₁′ when decoding of the tile T₁₂′is started, the CABAC statistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “31” inthe tile T₁₃′ would be inherited from the CABAC statistics at the lastLCU/TB indexed by “30” in the tile T₁₂′ when decoding of the tile T₁₃′is started, and the CABAC statistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “40”in the tile T₂₁′ would be inherited from the CABAC statistics at thelast LCU/TB indexed by “39” in the tile T₁₃′ when decoding of the tileT₂₁′ is started.

As the conventional decoder design employs a tile scan order fordecoding a multi-tile encoded picture, the vertical buffer (columnbuffer) is necessitated by the tile scan order for buffering decodedinformation of LCUs/TBs of an adjacent tile beside a vertical boundary(e.g., a left vertical boundary) of a currently decoded dependent tile,which increases the production cost inevitably. Thus, there is a needfor an innovative entropy decoder design which is capable of reducing oromitting the vertical buffer (column buffer) when decoding themulti-tile encoded picture/compressed frame.

SUMMARY

In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, anapparatus and a method for buffering context arrays referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon a multi-tile encoded picture and arelated entropy decoder, to solve the above-mentioned problems.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an exemplarybuffering apparatus for buffering context arrays of a multi-tile encodedpicture having a plurality of tiles is disclosed. The exemplarybuffering apparatus includes a first buffer and a second buffer. Thefirst buffer is arranged to buffer a first context array referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon a first tile of the multi-tile encodedpicture. The second buffer is arranged to buffer a second context arrayreferenced for performing entropy decoding upon a second tile of themulti-tile encoded picture. When the first tile is currently decodedaccording to the first context array buffered in the first buffer, thesecond context array is buffered in the second buffer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an exemplarybuffering method for buffering context arrays of a multi-tile encodedpicture having a plurality of tiles is disclosed. The exemplarybuffering method includes: buffering a first context array referencedfor performing entropy decoding upon a first tile of the multi-tileencoded picture; and buffering a second context array referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon a second tile of the multi-tile encodedpicture when the first tile is currently decoded according to thebuffered first context array.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an exemplaryentropy decoder is disclosed. The exemplary entropy decoder includes anentropy decoding core and a buffering apparatus. The entropy decodingcore is arranged to perform entropy decoding upon a multi-tile encodedpicture, having a plurality of tiles included therein, in a raster scanorder, wherein the entropy decoding core starts decoding a portion of acurrent tile after decoding a portion of a previous tile. The bufferingapparatus is coupled to the entropy decoding core, and arranged forbuffering context arrays of the multi-tile encoded picture. Thebuffering apparatus includes a first buffer and a second buffer. Thefirst buffer is arranged to buffer a first context array referenced forentropy decoding a first tile of the multi-tile encoded picture. Thesecond buffer is arranged to buffer a second context array referencedfor entropy decoding a second tile of the multi-tile encoded picture.When the first tile is currently decoded according to the first contextarray buffered in the first buffer, the second context array is bufferedin the second buffer.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating tiles adopted in the HEVCspecification.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional decoding order of thetiles shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an entropy decoder according to a firstembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary entropy decoding operationperformed by the entropy decoder shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a proposed decoding order of the tilesshown in FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the entropy decoder which stores acurrently used context array into a second buffer and loads a contextarray needed for decoding a next tile into a first buffer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary buffer maintenanceoperation of the buffering apparatus shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an entropy decoder according to asecond embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an entropy decoder according to a thirdembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the entropy decoder which switchesfrom one interconnection for accessing a context array used for decodinga current tile to another interconnection for accessing a context arrayneeded for decoding a next tile.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary buffer maintenanceoperation of the buffering apparatus shown in FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claimsto refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art willappreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names.This document does not intend to distinguish between components thatdiffer in name but not function. In the following description and in theclaims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-endedfashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but notlimited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean eitheran indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one deviceis electrically connected to another device, that connection may bethrough a direct electrical connection, or through an indirectelectrical connection via other devices and connections.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an entropy decoder according to a firstembodiment of the present invention. The exemplary entropy decoder 100includes an entropy decoding core 102 and a buffering apparatus 104,where the buffering apparatus 104 is coupled to the entropy decodingcore 102, and has a first buffer 106 and a second buffer 108. It shouldbe noted that only the elements pertinent to the present invention areillustrated in FIG. 3. In practice, the entropy decoder 100 is allowedto have additional elements included therein to support more functions.The entropy decoding core 102 is arranged to perform entropy decodingupon a multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, having a plurality of tilesincluded therein, in a raster scan order. Therefore, the entropydecoding core 102 starts decoding a portion of a current tile afterdecoding a portion of a previous tile. It should be noted that theproposed decoding method/decoding order may be applied to independenttiles or dependent tiles. In the following, an example of decodingindependent tiles is provided for illustrative purposes only, and is notmeant to be a limitation of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a diagram illustrating an exemplaryentropy decoding operation performed by the entropy decoder 100 shown inFIG. 3. The multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN is partitioned into aplurality of tiles (e.g., nine dependent tiles T₁₁-T₃₃ in thisembodiment). Each of the tiles T₁₁-T₃₃ is composed of a plurality ofLCUs/TBs. If a conventional decoding manner is employed, the LCU/TBindex values shown in FIG. 4 indicate the conventional decoding order ofthe LCUs/TBs included in the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN.Specifically, regarding a conventional decoder design, the decodingorder in a multi-tile encoded picture with tiles has a raster scansequence for LCUs/TBs in each tile and a raster scan sequence for thetiles, as shown in FIG. 2. In contrast to the conventional decoderdesign, the proposed decoder design of the present invention has theentropy decoding core 102 configured to decode all LCUs/TBs of the wholemulti-tile encoded picture PIC_IN in a raster scan manner, where thedecoding order includes successive decoding sequences S1-S8 as shown inFIG. 4. For example, the LCUs/TBs, located at the first row shown inFIG. 4 and belonging to different tiles T₁₁, T₁₂ and T₁₃, aresequentially decoded from the left-most LCU/TB to the right-most LCU/TBas indicated by the decoding sequence S1; the LCUs/TBs, located at thesecond row shown in FIG. 4 and belonging to different tiles T₁₁, T₁₂ andT₁₃, are sequentially decoded from the left-most LCU/TB to theright-most LCU/TB as indicated by the decoding sequence S2 following thedecoding sequence S1; and the LCUs/TBs, located at the third row shownin FIG. 4 and belonging to different tiles T₁₁, T₁₂ and T₁₃, aresequentially decoded from the left-most LCU/TB to the right-most LCU/TBas indicated by the decoding sequence S3 following the decoding sequenceS2. For clarity, please refer to FIG. 5, which is a diagram illustratinga proposed decoding order of the tiles shown in FIG. 4 according to anembodiment of the present invention. By using the entry point of eachtile bitstream/partition, a decoder can use raster scan of LCUs/TBs (asshown in FIG. 5) instead of tile scan of LCUs/TBs (as shown in FIG. 2).Hence, due to the proposed raster scan order, no vertical buffer (columnbuffer) is needed for buffering decoded information of LCUs/TBs of anadjacent tile. In this way, the production cost can be effectivelyreduced. It should be noted that the proposed raster scan order may beemployed for decoding independent tiles or dependent tiles.

In this embodiment, data of the LCUs/TBs is encoded using acontext-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) algorithm.Hence, the context model, which is a probability model, should beproperly selected and updated during the entropy decoding of themulti-tile encoded picture PIC_IN. It should be noted that the entropydecoding core 102 does not necessarily re-initialize the CABACstatistics at the first LCU/TB of each tile. That is, the CABACstatistics at the first LCU/TB of a current tile may be inherited fromthe CABAC statistics at a specific LCU/TB of a previous tilehorizontally adjacent to the current tile, where the first LCU/TB andthe specific LCU/TB are horizontally adjacent to each other and locatedat opposite sides of a tile boundary (i.e., a vertical/column boundary)between the current tile and the previous tile. As can be seen from FIG.4, the initial CABAC statistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “13” inthe tile T₁₂ is inherited from the CABAC statistics updated at theLCU/TB indexed by “4” in the tile T₁₁; similarly, the initial CABACstatistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “31” in the tile T₁₃ isinherited from the CABAC statistics updated at the LCU/TB indexed by“18” in the tile T₁₂. The tiles T₁₁-T₁₃ are horizontally adjacent tiles,i.e., horizontal partitions. However, the tiles T₁₁, T₂₁, and T₃₁ arevertically adjacent tiles, i.e., vertical partitions. Regarding the tileT₂₁ which is vertically adjacent to the tile T₁₁, the initial CABACstatistics at the first LCU/TB indexed by “40” in the tile T₂₁ would beinherited from the CABAC statistics updated at the last LCU/TB indexedby “39” in the tile T₁₃. As the initial setting of the CABAC statisticsfor the rest of the tiles can be easily deduced by analogy, furtherdescription is omitted for brevity.

The entropy decoding core 102 employs the decoding order includingsuccessive decoding sequences S1-S8. Hence, the LCUs/TBs in the sametile are not decoded continuously due to the fact that the entropydecoding core 102 starts decoding a portion of a current tile afterdecoding a portion of a previous tile. As can be seen from FIG. 4, afterthe LCUs/TBs indexed by “1”, “2”, “3” and “4” of the tile T₁₁ aresuccessively decoded, the next LCU/TB to be decoded by the entropydecoding core 102 would be the first LCU/TB indexed by “13” in the nexttile T₁₂ rather than the LCU/TB indexed by “5” in the current tile T₁₁;after the LCUs/TBs indexed by “13”, “14”, “15”, “16”, “17” and “18” ofthe tile T₁₂ are successively decoded, the next LCU/TB to be decoded bythe entropy decoding core 102 would be the first LCU/TB indexed by “31”in the next tile T₁₃ rather than the LCU/TB indexed by “19” in thecurrent tile T₁₂; and after the LCUs/TBs indexed by “31”, “32” and “33”of the tile T₁₃ are successively decoded, the next LCU/Tb to be decodedby the entropy decoding core 102 would be the first LCU/TB indexed by“5” in the previously processed tile T₁₁ rather than the LCU/TB indexedby “34” in the current tile T₁₃. Therefore, information of thecontext/probability model currently obtained by a partially decoded tileshould be buffered/maintained since the LCUs/TBs in the same tile arenot decoded by the entropy decoding core 102 continuously.

The buffering apparatus 104 is implemented for buffering context arraysof the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN. The context arrays includecontext models each being a probability model for one or more bins ofthe binarized symbol in the arithmetic coding, such as CABAC in H.264and HEVC. A context model may be chosen from a selection of availablemodels, depending on the statistics of recently-coded data symbols. Thecontext model stores the probability of each bin being “1” or “0”.Details of the context model can be found in a published paper: Marpe etal., “Context-Based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding in the H.264/AVCVideo Compression Standard”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMSFOR VIDEO TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 13, NO. 7, July 2003, which is incorporatedherein by reference. Further description is therefore omitted here forbrevity.

By way of example, but not limitation, the number of buffered contextarrays maintained by the buffering apparatus 104 during entropy decodingof the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN depends on the partitioningsetting of the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN. For example, when themulti-tile encoded picture PIC_IN has N horizontally adjacent partitions(i.e., N horizontal partitions/tiles at the same row), the number ofbuffered context arrays maintained by the buffering apparatus 104 duringentropy decoding of the multi-tile encoded picture is equal to N.Regarding the example shown in FIG. 4, N is equal to 3. Hence, there are3 context arrays concurrently maintained in the buffering apparatus 104,where each of the context arrays records information of thecontext/probability model needed for performing entropy decoding upon acorresponding tile. Technical features of the buffering apparatus 104are detailed as below.

The first buffer 106 and the second buffer 512 may be allocated in thesame storage device or implemented using separate storage devices,depending upon actual design consideration. For example, the firstbuffer 106 maybe implemented using a register of the entropy decoder100, and the second buffer 104 may be implemented using an internalbuffer (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM)) of the entropydecoder 100. The first buffer 106 is arranged to buffer a context array(e.g., CA₁) referenced for performing entropy decoding upon a specifictile of the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, and the second buffer 108is arranged to buffer context arrays (e.g., CA₂-CA_(N)) referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon other tiles of the multi-tile encodedpicture PIC_IN, where N is equal to the number of horizontally adjacentpartitions (i.e., horizontal partitions/tiles at the same row). When thespecific tile is currently decoded according to the context array CA₁buffered in the first buffer 106, the context arrays CA₂-CA_(N) arebuffered/maintained in the second buffer 108. That is, the first buffer106 stores a context array of a currently decoded tile, and the secondbuffer 108 stores context arrays of other tiles which are not currentlydecoded. When the entropy decoding of the specific tile encounters atile boundary (e.g., a right vertical/column boundary), the currentlyused context array CA₁ is stored into the second buffer 108 to updatethe original context array CA₁ stored in the second buffer 108, and thecontext array CA₂ needed for decoding the next tile is loaded into thefirst buffer 106, as shown in FIG. 6. Thus, during the entropy decodingof the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, context arrays for differenttiles are concurrently maintained by the buffering apparatus 104,thereby facilitating the discontinuous entropy decoding of LCUs/TBs ineach tile.

An exemplary buffer maintenance operation of the buffering apparatus 104is described with reference to FIG. 7. Supposing that the multi-tileencoded picture PIC_IN has the partition setting shown in FIG. 4, thenumber of maintained context arrays is equal to 3 (i.e., N=3). In thebeginning, the context array CA₁ at the LCU/TB indexed by “1” (i.e., theinitial context array CA₁ for the tile T₁₁) is initialized and loadedinto the first buffer 106 by the entropy decoding core 102. When theentropy decoding of the tile T₁₁ encounters a tile boundary (e.g., avertical/column boundary VB₁), the context array CA₁ updated at theLCU/TB indexed by “4” is stored into the second buffer 108, and thecontext array CA₂ at the LCU/TB indexed by “13” (i.e., the initialcontext array CA₂ for the tile T₁₂) is inherited from the context arrayCA₁ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “4” and loaded into the firstbuffer 106. When the entropy decoding of the tile T₁₂ encounters a tileboundary (e.g., a vertical/column boundary VB₂), the context array CA₂updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “18” is stored into the second buffer108, and the context array CA₃ at the LCU/TB indexed by “31” (i.e., theinitial context array CA₃ for the tile T₁₃) is inherited from thecontext array CA₂ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “18” and loaded intothe first buffer 106. When the entropy decoding of the tile T₁₃encounters a tile boundary (e.g., a vertical/column boundary VB₃), thecontext array CA₃ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “33” is stored intothe second buffer 108, and the context array CA₁ needed to resumedecoding the LCU/TB indexed by “5” is read from the second buffer 108and then loaded into the first buffer 106. As a person skilled in theart can readily understand loading and storing of the context arraysrequired for decoding the following LCUs/TBs by referring to FIG. 7,further description is omitted here for brevity.

As mentioned above, the entropy decoding core 102 decodes all LCUs/TBsof the whole multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN in a raster scan manner,where the decoding order includes successive decoding sequences S1-S8 asshown in FIG. 4. Therefore, only the horizontal buffer 101 is needed tobuffer decoded information of LCUs/TBs of an adjacent tile beside ahorizontal/row boundary (e.g., a top horizontal/row boundary) of acurrently decoded tile. Since there is no vertical buffer needed forbuffering decoded information of LCUs/TBs of an adjacent tile beside avertical/column boundary (e.g., a left vertical/column boundary) of thecurrently decoded tile, the overall buffer size required by a videodecoder is reduced, thus decreasing the production cost accordingly.

As the first buffer 106 is used to maintain a context array of onecurrently decoded tile and the second buffer 108 is used to maintaincontext arrays of other tiles that are not currently decoded, thecontext arrays are loaded and stored between the first buffer 106 andthe second buffer 108. If the first buffer 106 is a register or aninternal buffer (e.g., SRAM) of the entropy decoder and the secondbuffer 108 is an external buffer such as a dynamic random access memory(DRAM), the decoding performance of the entropy decoder may be degradeddue to read/write latency of the external buffer. The present inventiontherefore proposes a modified entropy decoder with enhanced bufferread/write efficiency.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a diagram illustrating an entropydecoder according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Theentropy decoder 500 has a buffer access enhancement circuit 512 coupledbetween the first buffer 106 and the second buffer 108, where the bufferaccess enhancement circuit 512 includes a third buffer 514, a post-storemechanism 516, and a pre-fetch mechanism 518. By way of example, but notlimitation, the first buffer 106, the buffer access enhancement circuit512 and the entropy decoding core 102 may be disposed in the same chip,and the second buffer 108 may be an off-chip storage device. Forexample, the first buffer 106 may be a register, the third buffer 514may be an internal buffer (e.g., SRAM), and the second buffer 108 may bean external buffer (e.g., DRAM). However, this is for illustrativepurposes, and is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention.

The pre-fetch mechanism 518 is used for pre-fetching a context array(e.g., CA₂ shown in FIG. 6) from the second buffer 108 and temporarilystoring the pre-fetched context array in the third buffer 514.Therefore, when the pre-fetched context array is needed by the entropydecoding core 102, the pre-fetched context array in the third buffer 514may be quickly loaded into the first buffer 106. The post-storemechanism 516 is used for post-storing a context array (e.g., CA₁ shownin FIG. 6), which is read from the first buffer 106 and temporarilystored in the third buffer 514, into the second buffer 108. Therefore,the context array read from the first buffer 106 is not required to beimmediately transferred to the second buffer 108. In this way, the readlatency and write latency of the second buffer 108 can be concealed toeffectively reduce the time consumed on loading and storing contextarrays.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the buffer access enhancement circuit512 is configured to support both of the post-store function and thepre-fetch function. However, the buffer access enhancement circuit 512may be modified to support only one of the post-store function and thepre-fetch function. Specifically, in a case where the buffer accessenhancement circuit 512 is modified to omit the post-store mechanism516, enhanced buffer reading efficiency of the second buffer 108 isachieved via the pre-fetch mechanism 518. In another case where thebuffer access enhancement circuit 512 is modified to omit the pre-fetchmechanism 518, enhanced buffer writing efficiency of the second buffer108 is achieved via the post-store mechanism 516. These alternativedesigns all fall within the scope of the present invention.

The entropy decoder 500 in FIG. 8 employs the buffer access enhancementcircuit 512 to mitigate the decoding performance degradation caused bythe buffer read/write latency. However, using a different decoderconfigure to achieve the same objective is feasible. Please refer toFIG. 9, which is a diagram illustrating an entropy decoder according toa third embodiment of the present invention. The exemplary entropydecoder 600 includes the aforementioned entropy decoding core 102 and abuffering apparatus 604, where the buffering apparatus 604 is coupled tothe entropy decoding core 102, and has a multiplexer 606 and a pluralityof buffers 608_1, 608_2 . . . 608_N. It should be noted that only theelements pertinent to the present invention are illustrated in FIG. 9.In practice, the entropy decoder 600 is allowed to have additionalelements included therein to support more functions. As mentioned above,the entropy decoding core 102 is arranged to perform entropy decodingupon the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, having a plurality of tilesincluded therein, in a raster scan order as shown in FIG. 4. Since theentropy decoding core 102 employs the decoding order includingsuccessive decoding sequences S1-S8, the LCUs/TBs in the same tile arenot decoded continuously. In other words, the entropy decoding core 102starts decoding a portion of a current tile after decoding a portion ofa previous tile. Hence, information of the context/probability modelcurrently obtained by a partially decoded tile should bebuffered/maintained due to the fact that the LCUs/TBs in the same tileare not decoded continuously. Thus, the buffering apparatus 604 isimplemented for buffering context arrays of the multi-tile encodedpicture PIC_IN. By way of example, but not limitation, the number ofbuffered context arrays maintained by the buffering apparatus 604 duringentropy decoding of the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN depends on thepartitioning setting of the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN. Forexample, when the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN has N horizontallyadjacent partitions (i.e., N horizontal partitions/tiles at the samerow), the number of buffered context arrays maintained by the bufferingapparatus 604 during entropy decoding of the multi-tile encoded pictureis equal to N. Regarding the example shown in FIG. 4, N is set by 3.Therefore, there are 3 context arrays concurrently maintained in thebuffering apparatus 604, where each of the context arrays recordsinformation of the context/probability model needed for performingentropy decoding upon a corresponding tile.

The buffers 608_1-608_N may be allocated in the same storage device orimplemented using separate storage devices, depending upon actual designconsideration. For example, the buffers 608_1-608_N may be implementedusing registers, internal buffers (e.g., SRAMs), external buffers (e.g.,DRAMs), or a combination thereof. The major difference between thebuffering apparatuses 104 and 604 is that each of the buffers608_1-608_N is dedicated to maintaining one context array. As can beseen from FIG. 9, context arrays CA₁, CA₂, . . . , CA_(N) referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon different tiles are stored in thebuffers 608_1-608_N, respectively. For example, the first buffer 608_1is arranged to buffer a context array CA₁ referenced for performingentropy decoding upon the first tile of the multi-tile encoded picturePIC_IN, the second buffer 608_2 is arranged to buffer a context arrayCA₂ referenced for performing entropy decoding upon the second tile ofthe multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, the third buffer 608_3 isarranged to buffer a context array CA₃ referenced for performing entropydecoding upon the third tile of the multi-tile encoded picture PIC_IN,and the N^(th) buffer 608 N is arranged to buffer a context array CA_(N)referenced for performing entropy decoding upon the n^(th) tile of themulti-tile encoded picture PIC_IN, where the1^(st)-n^(th) tiles arehorizontally adjacent tiles at the same row. In other words, N is equalto the number of horizontally adjacent partitions (i.e., horizontalpartitions/tiles at the same row). The multiplexer (MUX) 606 is used tocontrol which one of the buffers 608_1-608_N is allowed to be accessedby the entropy decoding core 102. The MUX 606 has a plurality of firstconnection ports P₁, P₂, P₃, . . . , P_(N) and a second connection portN, where the buffers 608_1-608_N are coupled to the first connectionports P₁-P_(N), respectively, and the entropy decoding core 102 iscoupled to the second connection port N. When the first tile is acurrent tile selected to be decoded by the entropy decoding core 102,the MUX 606 enables an interconnection 607_1 between the firstconnection port P₁ and the second connection port N, thus allowing theentropy decoding core 102 to access the context array CA₁ stored in thefirst buffer 608_1 and perform entropy decoding upon the first tileaccording to the context array CA₁. It should be noted that when thefirst tile is currently decoded according to the context array CA₁buffered in the buffer 608_1, the context arrays CA₂-CA_(N) arebuffered/maintained in other buffers 608_1-608_N, respectively.

When the entropy decoding of the first tile encounters a tile boundary(e.g., a right vertical/column boundary), the MUX 606 switches theinterconnection 607_1 between the first connection port P₁ and thesecond connection port N to another interconnection 607_2 between thefirst connection port P₂ and the second connection port N, as shown inFIG. 10. Hence, the entropy decoding core 102 is allowed to access thecontext array CA₂ stored in the second buffer 608_2 and perform entropydecoding upon the second tile according to the context array CA₂.

To put it simply, during the entropy decoding of the multi-tile encodedpicture PIC_IN, multiple context arrays for different tiles may beconcurrently maintained by the buffering apparatus 604, therebyfacilitating the discontinuous decoding of the LCUs/TBs in each tile.Besides, as the context arrays are buffered in respective designatedbuffers and selected under the control of a multiplexer, there is noloading and storing of context arrays between two buffers. In this way,the decoding performance of the entropy decoder may be improved by usinga switchable hard-wired interconnection between the entropy decodingcore and the buffers.

An exemplary buffer maintenance operation of the buffering apparatus 604is described with reference to FIG. 11. Supposing that the multi-tileencoded picture PIC_IN has the partition setting shown in FIG. 4, thenumber of maintained context arrays is equal to 3 (i.e., N=3).Therefore, the buffering apparatus 604 would be configured to have threebuffers 608_1-608_3 only. In the beginning, the first buffer 608_1 isselected by the MUX 606, and the context array CA₁ at the LCU/TB indexedby “1” (i.e., the initial context array CA₁ for the tile T₁₁) isinitialized by the entropy decoding core 102. When the entropy decodingof the tile T₁₁ encounters a tile boundary (e.g., a vertical/columnboundary VB₁), the first buffer 608_1 maintains the context array CA₁updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “4”, the MUX 606 selects the secondbuffer 608_2, and the context array CA₂ at the LCU/TB indexed by “13”(i.e., the initial context array CA₂ for the tile T₁₂) is inherited fromthe context array CA₁ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “4”. When theentropy decoding of the tile T₁₂ encounters a tile boundary (e.g., avertical/column boundary VB₂), the second buffer 608_2 maintains thecontext array CA₂ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “18”, the MUX 606selects the third buffer 608_3, and the context array CA₃ at the LCU/TBindexed by “31” (i.e., the initial context array CA₃ for the tile T₁₃)is inherited from the context array CA₂ updated at the LCU/TB indexed by“18”. When the entropy decoding of the tile T₁₃ encounters a tileboundary (e.g., a vertical/column boundary VB₃), the context array CA₃updated at the LCU/TB indexed by “33” is maintained in the third buffer608_3, and the MUX 606 selects the first buffer 608_1 again such thatthe decoding operation of the tile T₁₁ is resumed. As a person skilledin the art can readily understand loading and storing of the contextarrays required for decoding the following LCUs/TBs by referring to FIG.11, further description is omitted here for brevity.

In conclusion, a buffering method employed by any of the aforementionedentropy decoders for buffering context arrays of a multi-tile encodedpicture having a plurality of tiles may include at least the followingsteps: buffering a first context array referenced for performing entropydecoding upon a first tile of the multi-tile encoded picture; andbuffering a second context array referenced for performing entropydecoding upon a second tile of the multi-tile encoded picture when thefirst tile is currently decoded according to the buffered first contextarray.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A buffering apparatus for buffering contextarrays of a multi-tile encoded picture having a plurality of tiles, thebuffering apparatus comprising: a first buffer, arranged to buffer afirst context array referenced for performing entropy decoding upon afirst tile of the multi-tile encoded picture; a second buffer, arrangedto buffer a second context array referenced for performing entropydecoding upon a second tile of the multi-tile encoded picture; and amultiplexer, coupled to one of the first buffer and the second buffer;wherein when the first tile is currently decoded according to the firstcontext array buffered in the first buffer, the second context array isbuffered in the second buffer; entropy decoding of the second tile isstarted before the first tile is fully entropy decoded; and when entropydecoding of the first tile encounters a tile boundary, the multiplexerswitches between the first buffer and the second buffer.
 2. Thebuffering apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the entropy decoding of thefirst tile encounters the tile boundary, the first context array isstored into the second buffer, and the second context array is loadedinto the first buffer.
 3. The buffering apparatus of claim 2, furthercomprising: a buffer access enhancement circuit, coupled between thefirst buffer and the second buffer, for pre-fetching the second contextarray from the second buffer or post-storing the first context arrayinto the second buffer.
 4. The buffering apparatus of claim 1, whereinwhen the second tile is currently decoded according to the secondcontext array buffered in the second buffer, the first context array isbuffered in the first buffer.
 5. The buffering apparatus of claim 1,wherein the multiplexer has a plurality of first connection ports and asecond connection port; wherein the first buffer and the second bufferare coupled to a first specific port and a second specific port includedin the first connection ports, respectively.
 6. The buffering apparatusof claim 5, wherein when the entropy decoding of the first tileencounters the tile boundary, the multiplexer switches aninterconnection between the second connection port and the firstspecific port to an interconnection between the second connection portand the second specific port.
 7. The buffering apparatus of claim 1,wherein the first tile and the second tile are dependent tiles.
 8. Thebuffering apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first bufferand the second buffer is a register, an internal buffer or an externalbuffer of an entropy decoder.
 9. The buffering apparatus of claim 1,wherein the multi-tile encoded picture has N horizontally adjacentpartitions, and a number of buffered context arrays maintained by thebuffering apparatus during entropy decoding of the multi-tile encodedpicture is equal to N.
 10. A buffering method for buffering contextarrays of a multi-tile encoded picture having a plurality of tiles, thebuffering method comprising: buffering a first context array referencedfor performing entropy decoding upon a first tile of the multi-tileencoded picture; buffering a second context array referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon a second tile of the multi-tile encodedpicture when the first tile is currently decoded according to thebuffered first context array; and when entropy decoding of the firsttile encounters a tile boundary, performing a multiplexing operation toswitch between the buffered first context array and the buffered secondcontext array; wherein entropy decoding of the second tile is startedbefore the first tile is fully entropy decoded.
 11. The buffering methodof claim 10, wherein the first context array is buffered in a firstbuffer, the second context array is buffered in a second buffer, and thebuffering method further comprises: when the entropy decoding of thefirst tile encounters the tile boundary, storing the first context arrayinto the second buffer, and loading the second context array into thefirst buffer.
 12. The buffering method of claim 11, further comprising:pre-fetching the second context array from the second buffer; orpost-storing the first context array into the second buffer.
 13. Thebuffering method of claim 10, wherein the step of buffering the firstcontext array comprises: buffering the first context array when thesecond tile is currently decoded according to the second context array.14. The buffering method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing themultiplexing operation to switch between the buffered first contextarray and the buffered second context array comprises: outputting thebuffered second context array to substitute for the buffered firstcontext array.
 15. The buffering method of claim 10, wherein the firsttile and the second tile are dependent tiles.
 16. The buffering methodof claim 10, wherein at least one of the first context array and thesecond context array is stored in a register, an internal buffer or anexternal buffer of an entropy decoder.
 17. The buffering method of claim10, wherein the multi-tile encoded picture has N horizontally adjacentpartitions, and a number of buffered context arrays maintained duringentropy decoding of the multi-tile encoded picture is equal to N.
 18. Anentropy decoder, comprising: an entropy decoding core, arranged toperform entropy decoding upon a multi-tile encoded picture, having aplurality of tiles included therein, in a raster scan order, wherein theentropy decoding core starts decoding a portion of a current tile afterdecoding a portion of a previous tile; and a buffering apparatus,coupled to the entropy decoding core, for buffering context arrays ofthe multi-tile encoded picture, the buffering apparatus comprising: afirst buffer, arranged to buffer a first context array referenced forperforming entropy decoding upon a first tile of the multi-tile encodedpicture; a second buffer, arranged to buffer a second context arrayreferenced for performing entropy decoding upon a second tile of themulti-tile encoded picture; and a multiplexer, coupled to one of thefirst buffer and the second buffer; wherein when the first tile iscurrently decoded according to the first context array buffered in thefirst buffer, the second context array is buffered in the second buffer;entropy decoding of the second tile is started before the first tile isfully entropy decoded; and when entropy decoding of the first tileencounters a tile boundary, the multiplexer switches between the firstbuffer and the second buffer.
 19. The entropy decoder of claim 18,wherein the multi-tile encoded picture has N horizontally adjacentpartitions, and a number of buffered context arrays maintained by thebuffering apparatus during entropy decoding of the multi-tile encodedpicture is equal to N.